Life Lately

The garden flourished! The only planted that never actually fruited for us was our poblano peppers. Now, we’ve pulled up almost everything and sown some kale for winter.

Our first vegetables: radishes

Everything green!

A few days worth of tomatoes

Rainbow carrots

Late summer morning haul

At the peak of growth.

I also built a ladder-style herb planter for our patio. Did all of the construction and staining myself! I will post the dimensions & directions soon!

I started grad school. Oy. It has been so fulfilling to be back in the classroom, but things are starting to rev up as we reach the latter half of the semester and I am starting to feel the stress. I’m actually turning in my first paper today. Eek! I forgot everything about citations since I was in my undergraduate program. I’m worried I have too many citations (which, I suppose, is better than having too few). I’m starting to lay out a loose plan for my journey through the program. Due to my work being full-time and to tuition requirements, I’m set to take two classes per semester from here on out, and spend three full years in the program (possibly with one extra semester).

I sorted out my insurance (finally) and now I’m on my own through my employer. It took almost five weeks for my new card to come in, but now I am finally able to go to the doctor, if need be.

M and I celebrated our four-year-anniversary. Thanks to some miracle (it being Monday), we were both able to take off and we spent the day apple-picking and visiting a cidery, a winery, and a distillery down south. It was an awesome day with a wonderful man (and the dog)! I still have to make a pie or two with the last of the apples, but most of them went into apple butter.

Speaking of apple butter, I managed a fair amount of canning this summer. I’ve put up several quarts of apple butter, yellow squash relish, tomato jam, and refrigerator pickles (which M has decimated after realizing how good they are in bloody marys). I even tried my hand at a small batch of pickled watermelon rind. That had taken some adjusting…it is an odd flavor and texture combination. I might make a few more jams before the holidays or even try canning some apple pie filling.

I had my one-year anniversary at my salaried position, which was pretty cool as well. We are chugging along in our rehearsals and the shows are just starting to come together. The students are fantastic, as always.

I am finding more routine and balance, and feeling happier and more center than I have in a long time. Now, I’ve just got to keep these fuzzy feelings going through the long, dark winter. I am slowly working towards settling into my routine and adding new goals without losing momentum on others. So far, I am feeling pretty good!

I have a handful of recipes I am hoping to post soon. This summer really showed me how I use this blog as a personal recipe file. I came here several times looking for a recipe, only to find out that I hadn’t posted it yet! I need to get several of my standbys up, if only so I can pull the recipe up on my phone the next time that I am making it!

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One Comment on “Life Lately”

[…] still love! Every piece folds up, so its a total space saver! Other than that, we have my herb planter and a very old, giant grill that was another curbside find. M and I agreed that we would be […]

About Kaity

My name is Kaity. I write about food, my dog, and life as a full-time arts admin and part-time grad student. I have a lasting devotion to lemons. I read too much as a child and now I'm trying to bring back that habit. I like to pretend that I know how to garden. I also happen to be gluten-free.